Month: May 2025

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic said now is the time to start focusing on his future with the team. Until this point, Doncic had been focused on playing basketball and not his contract.

“I didn’t think about it yet,” Doncic said. “I’ve been focused on basketball. So obviously this is the time now to think about everything.”

In August, due to timing rules based on Doncic’s current contract, the Lakers can offer the superstar a four-year extension. Because he was traded to the Lakers, Doncic is no longer eligible to sign for the super max extension starting at 35% of the cap.

Doncic did join teammate LeBron James in endorsing the job that Lakers coach JJ Redick did this season.

“I think he’s a hell of a coach,” Doncic said. “I’m really glad I got coached by him these couple of months. It feels sometimes like I’m back in Europe a little bit. So I love it. We have a great bond. It’s been nothing but amazing with him as a coach.”

Dyson Daniels is the recipient of the George Mikan Trophy as the 24-25 NBA Most Improved Player. Daniels received 44 First Place Votes and 332 Total Points to finish ahead of Ivica Zubac and Cade Cunningham.

Presented annually since the 1985-86 season, the Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award is designed to honor an up-and-coming player who has made a dramatic improvement from the previous season or seasons. Daniels is the second player to earn the honor with the Hawks, joining Alan Henderson (1997-98).

In his third NBA season and first with Atlanta, Daniels averaged career highs of 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.01 steals while shooting career highs of 49.3% from the field and 34.0% from three-point range in 33.8 minutes in 76 games. He became the fifth player to average at least 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals in a season, joining Michael Ray Richardson (1979-80), Magic Johnson (1980-81), Alvin Robertson (three times – 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1988-89) and Michael Jordan (1987-88).

Daniels improved his scoring by +8.3 ppg, rebounds by +2.0 rpg, assists by +1.7 apg and steals by +1.62 spg from last season. He is the third player to have improvements of at least +8.0 ppg, +2.0 rpg, +1.5 apg and +1.5 spg from one season to the next (minimum 50 games played each season), joining Richardson (1978-79 to 1979-80) and Eric Murdock (1991-92 to 1992-93).